ICMIF launches women in leadership positions report

Insurance often has the reputation for being a conservative industry, run in a time-honoured way by men. However, in the cooperative and mutual insurance sector women are taking...

Insurance often has the reputation for being a conservative industry, run in a time-honoured way by men. However, in the cooperative and mutual insurance sector women are taking a much more significant role.

However, the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation’s (ICMIF) latest figures suggest that 29 cooperatives and mutual organizations within its membership (214 organizations) have decided that the best person to lead them is female. In 2005 this figure was just six.

While the findings in this report are necessarily anecdotal, what was striking about the responses was the care and thought each of our respondents took when offering their insights.

ICMIF CEO, Shaun Tarbuck said: “It is interesting to see how the topic of gender diversity is gaining ground all over the world. The latest Mckinsey report ‘Why Top Management Eludes Women in Latin America’ looks at Latin America and concludes that women are still greatly underrepresented in top management. In our sector’s case our research shows that senior women are breaking through in Latin America and many other global regions. Judging on the year on year growth rates in many of these organizations that are led by females, their influence is having an extremely positive impact.

Full McKinsey report

“ICMIF is extremely grateful to the women who contributed to our ground-breaking report about the sector. It is our belief that because of their generosity, we can offer unique knowledge and insight and will serve to benefit current and future generations of business leaders.”

For more information about the findings or for media enquiries please contact Liz Green, Senior Vice-President, Communications, ICMIF: +44 779 326 4220.

This report is restricted to ICMIF members. Please login, or register to view the report.

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